Extras: Audio commentary on first episode, Trivia Notes, Filmographies,
Stills Gallery
Directors:
Roger Bamford and Baz Taylor
Producer:
Martin McKeand
Screenplay:
Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais
Cast:
Dennis Paterson: Tim Healy
Oz Osbourne: Jimmy Nail
Neville Hope: Kevin Whately
Barry Taylor: Timothy Spall
Albert Moxey: Christopher Fairbank
Wayne Norris: Gary Holton
Brian 'Bomber' Busbridge: Pat Roach
Brenda Hope: Julia Tobin
Christa: Lysette Anthony
Tracey Busbridge: Lucinda Edmonds
Marjorie Osbourne: Su Elliot
Magowan: Michael Elphick
Vera Patterson: Caroline Hutchinson
Neville has trouble finding his sea legs.
"Dearest Brenda, we are now at sea. I stood on deck and
watched the coast of England disappear into the distant mist. Who knows what
lies ahead. A better future for us, that is my fervent hope. Well, there's no
more room for anything else, except to say I love you and miss you. Your
Neville."
The first words spoken by family man Neville (Kevin Whately) as he
writes a letter to his wife (Julia Tobin) and begins his
ferry trip overseas to Germany with the rest of the boys, foreman Dennis
(Tim Healy), loutish Oz (Jimmy Nail), the fat Brummie for whom
life never works out, Barry (Timothy Spall), care-free Moxey (Christopher Fairbank)
girl-mad Wayne (Gary Holton) and thoughtful Bomber (Pat Roach),
in a series so cleverly scripted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais,
that as well as writing the 2002 return for the series, which ended the day
before this review went online, they've also performed uncredited script
doctoring for Hollywood films like The Rock, adding in one-liners
from time to time.
This boxset contains all thirteen episodes from the first series, each one
having individual storylines compared to the third, most recent, series which
centres itself on one idea, but whatever the setting, which is largely superfluous
to the main action, we're presented with a show that it very entertaining, but
is just an excuse to show seven men all pissing about abroad for no particular
reason. I'm quite surprised ITV didn't take the chance to repeat series 1 and 2
before BBC showed the latest one.
This first series also includes cameos from the always-gorgeous Lysette
Anthony and the once-talented Michael Elphick, who both worked together
on the mildly entertaining 80s BBC sitcom Three Up, Two Down, alongside
Manchild's Ray Burdis. It also features the lads taking a trip to a
brothel, so it shows recycled ideas can work nearly 20 years on.
The episodes on this DVD are :
1. If I Were A Carpenter
2. Who Won The War Anyway?
3. The Girls They Left Behind
4. Suspicion
5. Home Thoughts From Abroad
6. The Accused
7. Private Lives
8. The Fugitive
9. The Alien
10. Last Rites
11. The Lovers
12. Love And Other Four-Letter Words
13. When The Boat Goes Out
"Barry Sheene" arrives on site.
There's no complaints with the picture. Shot on video in 4:3, it looks clear
and quite free of defects, albeit a little on the dark side. The sound is in
mono, but it's not a series that relies on special FX and the classic theme
tune, Joe Fagin's That's Livin' Alright, comes across perfectly
clearly.
The rest of the DVD's presentation isn't much to shout about. The only major
extra is an audio commentary for the first episode from the writers, while
filmographies, stills galleries and trivia about the show is strewn across
all four discs, when it should easily have fitted on one of them and would've
saved plenty of disc swapping. I know you can buy all four DVDs individually, but
it makes sense to go for the boxset, hence why the extras should be kept together.
The menus are static and silent, but with some music and motion used as an
intro and between the menus. There are 7 chapters to each episode, making 91
in total and subtitles come in English only.
One annoying thing is that while you can flick through the chapters, you can't
choose which time during the programme you want to skip to, thanks to Carlton.
Why disable such a useful feature?
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
